At this moment, the Eternal Night camp was ablaze with fires everywhere, and the battle line was rapidly advancing towards the center. The vanguard, leading the charge, was only a few hundred meters from the towering castle. At this distance, snipers with slightly longer range could already shoot into the main building of the castle.
Qian Ye led the Zhao Clan’s vanguard unit, charging forward with great speed, and they were now also close to the castle. The charge had been exceptionally smooth, hardly encountering any significant resistance. However, along the way, Qian Ye saw at least three groups of Imperial troops resting in place, with wounded soldiers everywhere, too exhausted to fight. This indicated that the journey had been very arduous.
Whether by coincidence or other reasons, the units that were supposed to be in front of Qian Ye according to the plan had lost their ability to advance right at the foot of the castle.
Without pausing, Qian Ye continued forward until he was only three hundred meters from the castle. He then ordered the warriors behind him to find their combat positions and prepare for the assault.
The pre-battle orders clearly marked the key points of the enemy’s defense line. This castle, occupied by the Dark Lord, was the command center of the dark army and the symbol of the entire Eternal Night camp. Capturing it would mean achieving the final victory in the ground war.
Qian Ye gazed at the ancient castle, shrouded in black mist and blood aura, as if it were a bottomless abyss. He was about to charge out, but then he remembered the more than a thousand soldiers behind him. Without a powerful figure like Qian Ye to support them, the two vanguard units would be massacred by the strong Eternal Night forces. And after all the losses, the remaining soldiers of the Eternal Night were all formidable.
Qian Ye decided to observe and find a better opportunity. At this moment, another unit emerged from the side, also around a thousand strong, bearing the mark of the Zhang Clan. The leading general was the man Qian Ye had saved in the previous battle.
The Zhang Clan general saw Qian Ye and immediately felt pleased. He used the terrain for cover and came to Qian Ye’s side, “What a coincidence, I didn’t expect to meet you here. I didn’t get a chance to properly thank you before. I’m Zhang Shiduo.”
“I am Qian Ye,” Qian Ye extended his hand and shook hands with Zhang Shiduo.
Zhang Shiduo glanced at the castle, which loomed in the night like a fierce beast, and said, “This place is tough to crack. Shall we do it together?”
“Agreed.”
Just as Zhang Shiduo was about to speak, a whistling sound suddenly filled the air. He ducked, and a primordial bullet grazed his scalp. Instantly, Zhang Shiduo leapt into the air, raising his gun and firing a burst. A cry of pain came from the wall, and a shooter fell down.
Zhang Shiduo lowered himself again, cursed, and then discussed the details of the attack with Qian Ye.
“Brother Qian Ye, I see that your men are mostly skilled in close combat, while I have many snipers. How about this: I’ll provide cover for you, and you take the lead to secure a position. Then my men can join you. See that tower over there? If I can get up there, I can suppress half the castle’s dark-blooded scum.”
Zhang Shiduo, nearing forty, had rich combat experience and quickly organized the troops. As a twelfth-level warrior, he excelled in mid-range sniping, especially in sieges, where he could use a primordial assault rifle to achieve the effect of heavy artillery. A twelfth-level sniper, if he could occupy a high point, would significantly influence the entire battle.
Qian Ye looked at the watchtower in the northwest corner of the castle. In his true vision, a dense, deep darkness lingered there, clearly indicating the presence of an extraordinary expert.
After a moment’s thought, Qian Ye said, “There’s a strong foe in the watchtower, but don’t worry, I’ll take care of him.”
“Strong foe?” Zhang Shiduo opened his ammunition box and took out three Sunfire bullets, loading them into his clearly customized seventh-level assault rifle. He patted the gun and said, “No need to risk your life. Just draw him out. Within a hundred meters, he won’t dodge my bullets.”
Looking at the rifle, Qian Ye couldn’t help but feel a bit of heartache. “Three Sunfire bullets? Isn’t that a bit wasteful? It’s just a third-class marquis.”
Zhang Shiduo chuckled, “Brother, you’re still young. Bullets are meant to be used. If you die without using them, that’s a waste.” He slapped Qian Ye on the shoulder, “Remember, draw him out, don’t put your life on the line.”
Qian Ye smiled in response.
At this time, Imperial troops were arriving near the battle line, and some were moving to encircle the castle from the rear. On the eastern side, intense gunfire had started, indicating that one eager Imperial unit had launched an attack without waiting for others to reach their positions.
Qian Ye listened intently to the sounds coming from the east.
Zhang Shiduo also focused, and then said, “They’re really going hard, already on the walls!”
In Qian Ye’s ears, the distinct sound of several primordial rifles was particularly clear, even overpowering the other sounds on the battlefield, including the remnants of heavy fire. This unique sound was caused by void primordial power, something even a twelfth-level warrior like Zhang Shiduo couldn’t detect, but Qian Ye, who had absorbed the remains of the Celestial Fiend and the ancient essence, was extremely sensitive to it.
To casually use void primordial power, the person was clearly not an ordinary strongman. Unfortunately, they were all users of dark primordial power, meaning they were part of the Eternal Night forces.
Qian Ye exhaled and said, “They’re going to lose.”
Zhang Shiduo was taken aback, “Lose? How could it happen so fast?”
Before he finished speaking, the fighting sounds from the other side of the castle abruptly stopped. Clearly, the Imperial soldiers who had charged the walls were in grave danger. The atmosphere on the battlefield suddenly became subtle, and some originally restless Imperial units became cautious and hesitant to move.
A glint of killing intent flashed in Qian Ye’s eyes, and he was about to leap out when Zhang Shiduo pulled him back. He shook his head at Qian Ye, “Wait for the artillery support.”
“Artillery support?” Qian Ye, who had never experienced such a large-scale war, decided to wait since the experienced Zhang Shiduo suggested it.
It wasn’t long before heavy artillery shells roared in, breaking the silence around the castle. Explosions rang out in the sky, and each shell was intercepted and exploded in mid-air.
The Imperial artillery didn’t stop because of this setback; instead, they fired even more fiercely. Eventually, hundreds of heavy cannons were firing in unison. It seemed that the mobile heavy artillery units with shorter ranges had been brought up, allowing for such a concentrated bombardment.
The roar of engines filled the air, and several floating gunboats arrived overhead, preparing to bomb the castle from above. Suddenly, a net of fire appeared in the sky above the castle, quickly rising and passing through one of the gunboats!
The gunboat spewed several flames, turning into a fireball and slowly falling to the ground. Several burning figures jumped from the boat, their agonized screams piercing the night before abruptly stopping. More crew members didn’t even get a chance to jump out.
The wreckage of the gunboat crashed to the ground, exploding continuously. Another fire net appeared in the sky, hitting another floating warship, turning it into a burning ball of fire!
The Imperial warships, seeing the futility of their efforts, tried to escape the range of the castle’s fire. But the fire net reappeared, destroying the slowest ones, and then vanished.
That fire net was unlike ordinary guns; it was a secret technique from a powerful figure, extraordinarily powerful, even capable of breaching the defenses of floating warships. If aimed at Qian Ye’s ground units, both vanguard units combined would struggle to survive, let alone have ten people left.
At this moment, Zhang Shiduo’s experience showed. If Qian Ye had acted rashly, the result would have been total annihilation.
The fire net, able to disintegrate the defenses of a floating warship, was likely controlled by a powerful duke. Such a level of strength could not be overcome by sheer numbers. Without a powerful counter, he could slaughter and then withdraw unhindered.
Qian Ye frowned, slowly gripping his Dongyue. Although the strongman in the castle was formidable, this was a battlefield, and the strategy was that of a pack of wolves. Though Qian Ye was far from being a match, he believed he could participate in a coordinated attack.
Zhang Shiduo held Qian Ye back again, “Don’t be rash. There are specialists in the army to handle this.”
Qian Ye suppressed his combat intent and continued to wait.
The Imperial artillery fired even more intensely, as if venting their fury. The Eternal Night defenders in the castle were clearly struggling to intercept. At this moment, the fire net reappeared but remained stationary, shielding much of the castle.
Any artillery shell that passed through the fire net exploded instantly. The shells that managed to skirt the edge of the fire net were less than a tenth, easily intercepted.
But the Imperial artillery continued its relentless bombardment, lasting for a full quarter of an hour. It was clearly aimed at depleting the primordial power of the Eternal Night strongman. When Qian Ye thought the barrage would never end, the cannon fire suddenly stopped, and the high-pitched sound of the signal for a full-scale assault echoed.
Hearing the assault signal, Qian Ye, who had been holding back, immediately leaped out of cover, moving like a ghost towards the castle. Zhang Shiduo followed, drawing a special short gun and firing several shots. The gun shot tracer rounds, marking the key positions on the watchtower and the walls.
These shots served as markers, and the Zhang Clan soldiers immediately opened fire, striking the marked positions with astonishing accuracy. Many of the defensive positions were silenced, and the rest were thoroughly suppressed. The Zhao Clan’s vanguard soldiers saw their opportunity and charged towards the castle, maintaining powerful firepower while covering each other.
Qian Ye rushed straight for the watchtower, targeting the hidden strongman inside. As he approached the castle, he no longer concealed his aura, locking onto his opponent with lethal intent.
Inside the watchtower, darkness swirled. In the depths of the darkness, a figure sat calmly. He slowly opened his eyes, revealing amber pupils, and spoke in a hoarse voice, “Only a tenth-level brat? How brave of you to come and face death!”
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